Unfriendly Persuasion

(1) Speak with the leader of the mercenary gang. (2) Come to a peaceful arrangement with the mercenaries. (3) (Optional) Wipe the mercenaries out. (4) (Optional) Ask Marcus for money to pay off the mercenaries. (5) Return to Marcus.

Have you been to Jacobstown? Jacobstown is a settlement on the far western edge of the map. This location is overrun exclusively with Super Mutants and Nightkin (with the exception of a human doctor and his ghoul assistant, that is). The King over in Freeside will send you here as part of the Side Quest known as Nothin' But a Hound Dog , which will likely be the first time you arrive. To undertake this side quest, however, you'll need to leave for a while and then return to the settlement a little later. The aforementioned side quest is actually a good time in which to do so, since you'll need to leave during the quest and then return later to end it. Upon your return, the Super Mutant named Marcus (who you meet when you first arrived at Jacobstown) seems distressed. It appears that some people have been shooting at them from outside of the settlement, injuring them and killing their livestock. They appear to be NCR, but Marcus can't be too certain. He requests that you go out and speak with them, to see if you can get them to stop.

This quest is extremely, extremely simple and short, no matter what decisions you make. But there's an easy solution to this entire mess that will make matters even easier for you, since you can make all parties happy. For starters, walk along the road leading away from Jacobstown for just a brief moment. When you do, you'll run into a man named Norton. Norton is the leader of the mercenary group that's been harassing the citizens of Jacobstown. Speak with him to learn more. He won't divulge who he's working for, but he will tell you that this expedition at least has some ancillary blessings from the NCR. When you speak with him further, you'll learn that you can simply buy him off to send he and his friends on their way. If your Speech skill is high enough, you can scare him off, too.

Additionally, you can attack Norton and his friends, but they are well-armed and pretty dangerous men, so it's not a good option for you unless you're really ready for a fight (plus, the NCR is about the last organization in the entire Wasteland that you want to be on the wrong side of). The catch-all option, if your Speech is low and you don't want to fight, is to simply return to Marcus and request 2,500 Bottle Caps (or 3,000, if you want to keep some for yourself). The 2,500 Bottle Caps will force Norton and his friends to move on. This is good news for Marcus, since he doesn't want anyone, even the NCR, to force them into violence. If they don't make a move, then the NCR will have no reason to bother them. Thus, everyone's happy. Case closed.